Will The Real Nonnie Please Come Forward ~ The Story Behind The Name

Nonnie’s first day home – Sept 1993

Nonnie is not a usual name, that’s why I liked it to begin with. I have mentioned that my book Nonnie and I was originally Nia and I. The name was not switched to something out of thin air so to speak.

Nonnie was a cat, my first and only cat. The first time I heard the name was in A Far Off Place (a great kids movie!!!). Reese Witherspoon’s character was named Nonnie and as soon as I heard it, I loved it.

When my father got me a cat I picked Nonnie for her name. I loved Nonnie more than she would have liked. She was a very independent cat that rarely came out of hiding or would snuggle. I would have to chase her out from under my bed just to capture her to get her to sit with me. Within about two minutes she was attempting to escape my thirteen year old grasp. (She knocked over the Christmas tree one year and scratched my father’s leather couch with her panic-escape attempts). RIP 12/9/2002.

Nonnie – 1998

Nonnie is a variant of Eleanor and is considered Old Provençal and African-Hausa, Old French, Old German, and Latin. As you can see it’s origin is all over the place!!!

I have always picked the character names for my stories with great thought. I spend a bit of time looking up names and their meanings when I write a story. I also enjoy using kid’s names that I know because who doesn’t like to see their name in a story!?